This invention relates generally to metal working processes for manufacturing agricultural devices and, more particularly, to a shearbar forming a mating cutting surface with the knives of a rotary cutterhead used in forage harvesters.
Presently known shearbars form a scissor-like cutting edge in cooperation with the well known knives of rotary cutterheads in forage harvesters. In time, the shear edge of the shearbar wears down and must be replaced. This occurs due to the composition of the shearbar which is usually a carbon steel alloy.
The shear edges of shearbars have been successfully coated with a tungsten carbide coating of from about 0.008 inches in thickness to about 0.012 inches in thickness. While such coated edges do increase wear life, once the wear has extended through the coating, wear then accelerates since the base material (carbon steel) of the blade is exposed. Thus, there are wear limitations of both the uncoated and coated shearbars.
The foregoing illustrates limitations of the known prior art. Thus, it is apparent that it would be advantageous to provide an alternative directed to overcoming one or more of the limitations as set forth above. Accordingly, a suitable alternative is to provide a shearbar which retains a sharp shearing edge for extended wear life.